Today was our final day in Sydney; in all of Australia, actually. Tomorrow we fly to Australia's sister country "Down Under", New Zealand. Time to make the most of our final Sydney day!
As it was a week day (and Trisha & Ben were obviously at work), we did our own thing. First up, over to the main public library for our final school session on Aussie soil. That library was such a gift! It allowed us a comfy, quiet, air conditioned spot many times over our cumulative two weeks in Sydney. Its free, speedy Internet let us access the girls' online school curriculum and tick off other items on our travel "to-do" list. We all also enjoyed the bus/tram ride to the library from Trisha's apartment. Fun to watch Sydney unfold around us.
We filled our bellies with a quick lunch and then debated how to spend the limited afternoon hours before getting back to the apartment for dinner with Trisha & Ben. It was a glorious weather day, so we thought a cruise around the harbor was in order. We tried to snag spots on a couple different scenic cruises departing from Circular Quay, but all the companies had already wrapped their cruises for the day. Disappointed but undeterred, we opted to hop on one of the public water ferries. We were running short on time, so in the end, we had to go for a ridiculously short 4 (!) minute ride across the harbor to Luna Park. 4 minutes goes by in a flash! But in that brief flash, we got treated to one final cruise alongside the Sydney Harbor Bridge, and gorgeous, memory-cementing views back onto the iconic Opera House & city.
We hopped off at Luna Park and continued to walk along the coast. A short 10 minute walk away, our destination was Wendy Whiteley's Secret Garden. Back in early February, on one or our first evenings in Sydney, Trisha & Ben had the brilliant idea to meet for a picnic dinner. We followed them to a charming little nook with gorgeous views back onto Sydney harbor. Trisha & the girls got to meet the real Wendy Whiteley that evening! We didn't have a chance to go back into her actual gardens that evening, so our final afternoon in Sydney was a perfect chance to remedy that.
We wandered leisurely through the Secret Garden, which was much larger than we thought it would be. It was fun to weave up & down, and all around the lovely gardens.
Back at the apartment we finished packing up all our stuff and enjoyed a final hang out with Trisha & Ben. The girls made them a surprise thank you sign when they weren't looking :) It will be bittersweet to leave this special land tomorrow and say goodbye (for now) to a dear friend! Australia has been as fantastic as we had hoped.
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